North Korea hints at powerful new weapon

25/08/2017

One of the images released by North Korean state media.
Photo credit: Supplied

With photographs obliquely showing a new rocket design, North Korea has sent a message that it is working on an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) more powerful than any it has previously tested, weapons experts say.

If developed, such a missile could possibly reach any place on the US mainland, including Washington and New York.

North Korea's state media published photographs late on Wednesday of leader Kim Jong-un standing next to a diagram of a three-stage rocket it called the Hwasong-13.

Missile experts, who carefully examine such pictures for clues about North Korea's weapons programs, said there is no indication that the rocket has been fully developed. In any case, it had not been flight tested and it was impossible to calculate its potential range, they said.

However, a three-stage rocket would be more powerful than the two-stage Hwasong-14 ICBM tested on two occasions in July, they said.